https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/07/why-indias-economic-data-faces-a-trust-deficit
In her latest article Niha Masih informs her English Guardian readers that there is not much we Indian’s agree on these days. Niha should know that it is the same here in the UK and in almost all countries of the world. She claims that the Indian government’s report of a 7.8% GDP growth has been challenged by many. They say that the government has systematically hollowed out the integrity of its own data. It has, ‘weaponised economic data for political gain’. There is a trust deficit, she says. Niha adds that according to the Azim Premji University 40% of graduates under 25 are unemployed. However she herself is misleading the Guardian readers because the same source says that the unemployment rate falls to 20% for those aged 25 to 29.
She further gets in a tangle when she quotes a government think tank. She had earlier said that there was a trust deficit in government stats. The government has defended the figure of 7.8 % growth rate. PM Modi called it a, ‘herculean feat.
Niha must not write biased articles. It will only further lower the credibility of the Guardian. Finally and bizarrely Niha quotes a newspaper in Sri Lanka which says that they do not want the same data mismanagement as in India. The link with a small time newspaper in Sri Lanka is baffling.
Nitin Mehta
9 Sept. 2026
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